Bowling game apparatus with surface of parabolid shape

ABSTRACT

A game apparatus suitable for a game of bowls having a smooth concave surface of parabaloid shape with target means thereon so that the target means can be positioned on the concave surface close to the bowler.

United States Patent Inventor Arthur Alfred Philpot 37 Northumberland St., Tusmore, South Australia, Australia Appl. No 745,649 Filed June 13, 1968 Patented Feb. 2, 1971 BOWLING GAME APPARATUS WITH SURFACE OF PARABOLOID SHAPE 2 Claims, 2 Drawing Figs.

US. Cl 273/39, 273/120 Int. Cl A63d 3/02 Field of Search 273/39,

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 107,030 9/ 1 870 Fowler 273/40 854,581 5/1907 Kohler 273/118 1,225,260 5/1917 Lukacher.. 273/39 1,835,857 12/1931 Foehl et al, 273/39 2,433,995 1/1948 Kevers 273/1 19(A) 2,546,399 3/1951 Lund 273/39 2,634,977 4/1953 Hunter 273/40 2,988,361 6/1961 Dart t 273/120 2,999,689 9/ l 961 Litwinczuk 273/ 39 Primary Examiner-Anton O. Oechsle AttorneyWaters, Roditi, Schwartz & Nissen ABSTRACT: A game apparatus suitable for a game of bowls having a smooth concave surface of parabaloid shape with target means thereon so that the target means can be positioned on the concave surface close to the bowler.

BOWLING GAME APPARATUS WITH SURFACE OF PARAROLOID SHAPE This invention relates to a sporting rink which can be used, for example, for the game of bowls.

Greens bowls is a game wherein bowls which are biased are bowled along from one end of the rink to the other and vary their direction as the effect of the bias becomes more pronounced near the end of the travel of a bowl. In contrast to this, the game of tenpin bowls constitutes the straight bowling of a bowl which has no bias in an attempt to knock down a series of pins at the far end of the rink.

In both the said bowls games, the score is determined from a target at a point remote from the bowler. Furthermore, the physical size of a rink is considerable due to inability to introduce skill into bowling over a short distance.

The main object of this invention is to provide a rink which will occupy less space than the previously proposed rinks and which makes it possible to arrange the target in closer proximity to the bowler.

In its simplest form this invention may be said to consist of a sporting rink suitable for a game of bowls, the rink comprising a member having a smooth concave surface directed upwardly, and target means on the concave surface.

An embodiment of the invention is described hereunder in some detail with reference to and is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a rink according to a first embodiment, employing a paraboloid shape concave surface, and FIG. 2 is a section on plane 2-2-2 of FIG. 1.

According to the first embodiment of FIGS. 1 and 2 a rink member is fonned of bowl or saucer shape and has its concave surface 11 facing upwards, the rink member 10 being formed of or lined with plastic or other suitable smooth material, and being surrounded by a rim 12. The slope of the upper surface of the rink near the periphery is sufficiently steep that the inward component of force due to the gravity acting on the bowl exceeds the centrifugal force due to its rotational movement around the rink, whereby the bowl will travel in a spiral path inwardly towards the center of the rink. It will be seen of course that for a certain velocity, a true parabolic cross-sectional shape of the upper surface of the rink will give a constant equalization between the centrifugal force and the inward component of force provided that the bowl which traverses the rink maintains its velocity. However it will immediately be apparent that a departure from the initial velocity, or a departure from the true parabolic shape of the upper surface of the rink will result in variation of the bowl from its spiral path, thereby introducing the element of skill required for a player.

The method of scoring can of course be varied, but in this embodiment the scoring is simply by means of a series of pins 13 forming a target (as in the tenpin bowling), the target pins 13 being secured to the concave surface of the rink by means of permanent magnets, rubber cups, suction pads or the like, so that they may be dislodged but readily replaced. Further targets 15 are arranged on the concave surface. The inner portion of the rink has its inner concave surface sloping towards an inner hold 16, so that the bowl after being bowled always runs down to the inner hole, and outwardly along a track 17 to the bowler. A small tangential bowl-receiving track I8 is arranged to project from the rink at a bowling locality.

It will be apparent from the above description that the invention provides an exceedingly simple arrangement which either with or without variations have the great advantage of placing the scoring target adjacent the bowl delivery locality thereby greatly increasing the interest of the game, and that the rink occupies much less space per player than the conventional bowling rink.

A typical variation might be the use of a larger saucershaped member having two bowlers located near its center. This would then require no tangential bowl-receiving track, nor inner hole.

lclaim: 1. A game apparatus suitable for a game of bowls, the rink being of bowl shape and having a smooth essentially continuous concave surface of paraboloid shape surrounded by a rim and directed upwardly, means defining a bowling locality ad- 3 5 jacent the rim, a target on the concave surface, a central hole 

1. A game apparatus suitable for a game of bowls, the rink being of bowl shape and having a smooth essentially continuous concave surface of paraboloid shape surrounded by a rim and directed upwardly, means defining a bowling locality adjacent the rim, a target on the concave surface, a central hole in the concave surface at its lowest point and means forming a return track sloping downwardly from a locality beneath the hole to a locality adjacent the bowling locality, whereby bowls after having run their course leave the concave surface through the central hole and return to the bowler.
 2. A game apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said bowling locality defining means comprises means projecting from the rink at the bowling locality and constituting a bowl-receiving track. 